Appeal court upholds murder conviction
Teen was cornered by mob in 2013, beaten and then fatally stabbed
Alberta’s top court has upheld the murder conviction of Calgarian Nathan Gervais in the swarming death of a Calgary teen in a back alley.
Gervais was convicted in May 2019, of first-degree murder in the Nov. 23, 2013, death of Lukas Strasser-hird, who was cornered by a mob against a dumpster behind the Vinyl nightclub on 10 Avenue S.W., beaten and then fatally stabbed.
Justice William Tilleman convicted Gervais, who inflicted the fatal wounds, of first-degree murder and found that Strasser-hird, 18, was effectively trapped in the alley by his assailants.
Under Canadian law, a murder is elevated to first degree if it is committed in the course of a separate unlawful confinement.
“The trial judge stated and applied the correct legal principles regarding the requirement that confinement be continuous and be distinct from the act of killing,” a three-member Alberta Court of Appeal panel said Monday in a written ruling.
In arguing Gervais’ appeal last month, defence counsel Alain Hepner suggested Tilleman erred in finding Gervais and others worked in concert to trap Strasser-hird in the alley after an altercation occurred outside the front entrance to the bar.
After Strasser-hird retreated into the nightclub to escape the initial altercation, staff led him out the back entrance to the alleyway.
While most of his attackers circled around to the east and then south to access the alley, Gervais retreated to his parked car to grab a knife and entered the alley from the opposite direction.
Hepner, in seeking a second-degree murder conviction, argued Gervais, who looped around the now-defunct 10 Avenue S.W. bar to the west and south to the alley, would not have known others had gone the other direction, effectively boxing the victim in.
“How would he have known his friends were going to come (the other way)?” Hepner said.
The lawyer said there was no evidence Gervais and the others had discussed approaching the alley from different directions to corner Strasser-hird.
“There’s no evidence Gervais said, ‘Meet me at the back of the alley,’” Hepner noted.
He said Strasser-hird simply walked into an ambush and his client joined in.
“The attacking group goes after Lukas, puts him against the dumpster and then Gervais joins the fray.”
But the appeal judges agreed with Crown prosecutor Julie Morgan that Gervais set out to get
Strasser-hird.
“The appellant was not going to let Strasser-hird go home safely,” Morgan said.
The dead man’s father, Dale Hird, said he was glad the decision was unanimous, as a dissenting opinion would have automatically given Gervais the right to appeal to the Supreme Court.
“Our family’s just totally relieved,” Hird said.
“We’re so glad it was a unanimous decision so there’s no automatic trip to Ottawa.”
Four other men stood trial in 2016 after Gervais fled Canada. His flight from justice ended with his arrest in Vietnam and return to Canada.
Assmar Shlah and Franz Cabrera were convicted in 2016 of second-degree murder in the death of Strasser-hird, while Joch Pouk was convicted of manslaughter and a fourth accused acquitted.